Rant and opinion on e-bay vendors taking a week to ship.

[John Martinez]

Before I hit this vendor with a neutral or negative, I thought I would run this past the group for another view. Perhaps I'm missing something.

 

When I win something, I pay same day or next day at the latest. I've had several items ship a full week or longer that takes even another week to get. To me, that is just NOT customer service.

 

Ok, so if it is a small fry, USPS will pick up. If it is a large e-bay'er with an e-bay store that sells hundreds of items weekly, seems to me they can afford multiple trips to the USPS within a week.

 

When my wife had her on-line business, she would go to the post office on Mon, Wed, and Fri - said so in her web site, and would get it to the USPS if someone really needed it.

 

Perhaps I'm expecting too much. Yes, I DO want it now.

 

Last time I hit the person with a neutral, they hit me with a negative. A negative for prompt payment, and contacting them about requesting, in a polite manner, tracking info when it shipped.

 

Thanks for listening, and I'll delay any rating of the vendor until I see some replies.

 

[MunkyMan95]

Some sellers only ship once a week. If they ship on Wednesdays and you buy your item on a Thursday, you're going to have to wait six days until the item goes out. Then again, some are just lazy and don't want to spend 15 seconds printing a label. But you've got to give them time.

[Revenant]

Most of the time the vendors I deal with get the coin out either the day after payment or the next day after that. This is what I expect. The only exception is when I win a coin on the Weekend. That understandably delays things. The 1 and only time I've given out a neg is when the people took 2+ weeks before they shipped it out, so they say, but it never arrived and they never told me exactly what day they mailed it out. Nor did they give me a confirmation/insurance number (which I paid for). As I said, the 1 and only time I gave a neg.

 

Right now I'm pissed with USPS. A seller shipped out an item on 9/17 and it still hasn't arrived. This is a $200 Item with insurance and signature confirmation on it and they sure as hell better not have lost it.

[John Martinez]

William - Mine shipped 9/17, insured, and showed up today 9/25. I understand that if I win and pay on a Friday - Sunday that you can't ship those days.

 

Chad, if a vendor that sells hundreds of items only goes once a week, they should say so, especially if I pay on a Monday and inquiry on that Friday, it should at the very minimum be in their response. I mean....that is REALLY lazy if they can't type the words "we ship once a week on Monday, yours will go out next Monday". Sheesh.

 

 

 

 

[MikeInFL]

From what I've read, the sellers don't necessarily deserve negatives. With the new eBay ratings you can hit them on the delivery portion only, and that seems a fairer response to the situation...Mike

[John Martinez]

I've never hit a seller with a negative. I did the one stated above where I hit them with a neutral. I don’t deserve a negative where my only crime is paying on time and leaving a neutral either.

 

I have voiced my displeasure directly with the seller (in all three cases it happened)and suggested that if they only go to the post office once a week, they state as such on their listings. I was polite every time. So of the three times, two positives and one neutral because the neutral told me to stuff it where the others appreciated my suggestion and actually made the change.

 

So, if we can’t be honest with our ratings on a seller, just because we are hit with an underserved like or worse rating, then the e-bay ratings are in effect useless.

 

By the way, I do appreciate the responses so far from all.

 

Edited - which is why I will not go back to this one seller, and e-bay is my venue of last resort, not first.

[Dwaine]

That's right they now have those four additional rating questions and one pertains to shipping time. The four categories are:

 

Item as described

Communication

Shipping Time

Shipping and handling charges

[John Martinez]

That's right they now have those four additional rating questions and one pertains to shipping time. The four categories are:

 

Item as described

Communication

Shipping Time

Shipping and handling charges

 

Thanks. Goes to show how my statement about e-bay being my last resort is true as this is news to me. Thank you. That said, wonder if I'll get hit for my crime of prompt payment if I take the shot at Shipping Time?

 

Any way, I now have options other than lying about how I really feel on their feedback.

 

[Revenant]

Thanks. Goes to show how my statement about e-bay being my last resort is true as this is news to me. Thank you. That said, wonder if I'll get hit for my crime of prompt payment if I take the shot at Shipping Time?

 

Any way, I now have options other than lying about how I really feel on their feedback.

 

The four new ratings are an average (1 to 5 stars) of all the responses given by buyers. They don't show next to your feedback, they just get averaged in. If you want to give them 1 star for shipping time they'll never know it was you.

[MunkyMan95]

John,

 

PowerScrewers and high-volume sellers are the worst. I've had it take 5 or 6 weeks to get an item, but I've learned to expect that from these sellers. The order is 'In Process' for a week - 10 days and then they print the label. Then they wait another 2 - 3 days to actually hand the package over to the USPS and they send it First Class. It takes ANOTHER week - 10 days to get to me! Until I see a powerseller or high-volume seller that does not conform to this, my opinion will not change.

[gmarguli]

When you buy/sell on eBay, there are some rules set by eBay. I believe one of them is shipment of the item within 7 days of payment. Therefore, unless otherwise stated in the auction, you should not expect shipment before the 7th day. You should be pleased if it happens faster, but not expect it. If it is longer, you have a right to be upset.

 

When I am a buyer I'd like the items shipped to me as fast as possible also. I'm as impatient as you. However, as a seller, I can understand the time it takes to prepare mailings. I'll usually run from 75-150 auctions at a time. I try to ship everything out as fast as possible, but it can take several days. My auctions usually end Sunday night and I have many people pay that evening. However, it may take until Wednesday to get yours packed up and not in the mail until Thursday. It's not a question of not going to the Post Office more than once a week. I'll frequently go daily, but there is only so much time for a seller to pack up items - and it frequently takes longer thanks to people not making the sellers life easier.

 

[EZ_E]

Well, I'd have been happy to just to have received a $400 win on ebay. The guy had 100% feedback over 3 years and I was totally dissed. The guy never responded to my emails and hung up on me when I called him. Pay Pal just covered $200 and I was out $200. Strangely enough, he left me positive feedback but never shipped the items. I neg'ed him and got him NARU'd but that's little consolation to me.

[conqueror]

I shop on ebay everyday and I come across many different types of sellers. Some are just excellent in everything and there are others that are at the other ends. I like to receive my items fast but I must also understand that there are guidelines as to what is acceptable. So I use this rule: Auction house takes about 7 to 10 days to deliver the coins and I will give the ebay seller same amount of time. If i don't hear anything from the seller in the first 5 days I will e-mail them and ask if and when the coins will be shipped. I have had no problems with any of the sellers and I think communications is the key.

 

John

[James_OldeTowne]

John, I'm afraid that I will side with sellers on this issue. Let me start with a quick example.

 

I recently won a relatively inexpensive coin on eBay. I paid cash (yeah, you shouldn't, but oh well). It took fifteen days for me to get the coin.

 

Was I upset? annoyed? angry? Not at all. Why? You see, I got the coin for about 2/3 of bid. Had I bought the coin from a dealer, I would have paid at least bid, but I probably would have gotten the coin much sooner.

 

My point is, if you want full service, be willing to pay full value. But one main purpose of buying on eBay is the hope that you get something for less than full value. That's the tradeoff! Personally, I never get upset over slow shipment. If I want faster shipment, I buy from another dealer. The way I look at it, you bought a coin, not a coin plus special personal service.

 

Here's a cordial idea: next time you want something from eBay shipped very fast, why not voluntarily offer an extra five bucks for this service? Then, if you don't get what you paid for, you have grounds for complaint.

 

By the way, it just so happens that I ship items extremely quickly, but that's just me. I fault nobody on eBay for having things that take priority over shipping stuff quickly to impatient bidders.

[cpm9ball]

That's right they now have those four additional rating questions and one pertains to shipping time. The four categories are:

 

Item as described

Communication

Shipping Time

Shipping and handling charges

 

Thanks. Goes to show how my statement about e-bay being my last resort is true as this is news to me. Thank you. That said, wonder if I'll get hit for my crime of prompt payment if I take the shot at Shipping Time?

 

Any way, I now have options other than lying about how I really feel on their feedback.

 

It is my understanding that the seller does not see this portion of the rating, only that which is stated in 80 characters (never enough for negs) or less.

 

Chris

[cpm9ball]

I'll have to go along with, both, Mike and James.

 

Okay, so it can be irritating that someone is slow and doesn't like to get up before noon. It may be that he or she had been working on their listings until 4AM.

 

How should you respond when you get the coin and it is far better than described and way underpriced? Do you neg that seller when you actually got a great deal? Why not just provide positive feedback on the coin, itself, and after the seller has posted his feedback, send him a private message to let him know about your disappointment regarding the delivery time. If you don't like the response you get, you can always avoid him in the future.

 

On the other hand and in spite of the slow delivery, if you think this particular dealer is apt to have more great deals, why cut off your nose to spite your face. I've dealt with people like this, and I've learned to accept it because I know I can get a better bargain there than anywhere else.

 

Chris

[jesbroken]

I agree, Greg. I have purchased a lot of coins through Ebay and I would imagine that 80% or so were shipped immediately with no problems. The remainder were longer with only 2 problems with negatives and no coins(paypal got me a full refund). I think most sellers do attempt to be prompt in shipment and we get used to this and when it doesn't happen we become upset. That's not the agreement the sellers are working under-they have a week. Give it to them, be patient, after all they have your money!

I also agree with your statement, John. I have never been burnt as badly as through auction houses(time and fees), so I am a little more patient than originally.

[ldhair]

I don't really mind if it takes a dealer a week to ship.

It's just not important to me.

[Bruceswar]

I don't really mind if it takes a dealer a week to ship.

It's just not important to me.

 

I have to agree! I do alot of ebay selling, and get packages out ASAP. If I am buyer I do not mind at all really.

[Conder101]

It is my understanding that the seller does not see this portion of the rating, only that which is stated in 80 characters (never enough for negs) or less.

If you know the right URL you can get up to 125 characters to use in expressing your disappointment.

 

[Keleum]

 

When I look at feedback from a seller. It's annoying to see a match over shipment/payment times. For the most part I stop checking single negs that a sellers gets, because it's always something he said/she said kind of thing.

 

For those of you that live and die by eBay feedback, please stop. I don't believe in 100% positive feedback, I know your mucking with the numbers. I also don't believe the 1 neg you left about being charged $17.50 for shipping or waiting 8.3 days more than you thought for the item to ship is helping me or anyone else decide if I should use this seller.

 

Help me out, here.. I already know no one is perfect, but I don't want to get ripped off, if I can avoid it.

[John Martinez]

Thanks to all who responded. I needed an additional view to temper my expectations, and that I received.

 

Since the coins were as described, I will leave positive feedback. I'm not going to cut off my nose to spite my face.

 

All that said, my idea of customer service is quite different. If we as a community will accept 7 day shipping from any auction house, then that is the standard we will have to accept when we purchase from an auction house.

 

Again, thanks to all who replied. I DO appreciate you all and this board.

 

[James_OldeTowne]

John, please remember that eBay is not an "auction house". It is a portal.

[Revenant]

William - Mine shipped 9/17, insured, and showed up today 9/25. I understand that if I win and pay on a Friday - Sunday that you can't ship those days.

 

Mine apparently was just lagging behind. It just showed up today (9/26) and still technically within the USPS' prediction of 5 to 9 business days.

[World Colonial]

John, I'm afraid that I will side with sellers on this issue. Let me start with a quick example.

 

I recently won a relatively inexpensive coin on eBay. I paid cash (yeah, you shouldn't, but oh well). It took fifteen days for me to get the coin.

 

Was I upset? annoyed? angry? Not at all. Why? You see, I got the coin for about 2/3 of bid. Had I bought the coin from a dealer, I would have paid at least bid, but I probably would have gotten the coin much sooner.

 

My point is, if you want full service, be willing to pay full value. But one main purpose of buying on eBay is the hope that you get something for less than full value. That's the tradeoff! Personally, I never get upset over slow shipment. If I want faster shipment, I buy from another dealer. The way I look at it, you bought a coin, not a coin plus special personal service.

 

Here's a cordial idea: next time you want something from eBay shipped very fast, why not voluntarily offer an extra five bucks for this service? Then, if you don't get what you paid for, you have grounds for complaint.

 

By the way, it just so happens that I ship items extremely quickly, but that's just me. I fault nobody on eBay for having things that take priority over shipping stuff quickly to impatient bidders.

 

I agree with you completely. I recently bought a coin from a Canadian seller that took about 2 1/2 weeks to arrive. I was a little annoyed but mainly because they did not communicate well. When I received the coin, I sent it in and it received an NGC MS-63 RB. I have about $140 in the coin and could probably sell it for at least $500. So no, I have no reason to complain.

[CHABSENTIA]

I recently had a large problem. I have never had any problems before this.I won a Coin and the Seller is in Sarasota.I live a few hundred miles away in Jacksonville Florida.I wrote after a week and asked.The Seller told me that if I lived on the West Coast that he could understand the delay.When I told him I only lived in Jacksonville that he would check. He wrote me back that it had been mailed a few days after I paid and that one of his employees had reversed the numbers in my address and the Post Office didn't know what to do so they had been sitting on it for 5 days.He also tols me that one of his employees had left a message on my answering machine. I told him that not only was there not a message on my machine but I have called ID and nobody called from Sarasota.He then siad that his Employee must have lied to him and he was very upset.At this time I told him that I was going to file a complaint with E bay the next day.On two separate occassions I asked for a tracking. number and the request was ignored,

 

He told me that it had been sitting in the Jacksonville Office and I know my carrier and he saod this was not the case.The next day one of his employees called and siad that she had sent somebody to the P.O. to check and then called me back after a few hours and told me that I wouldn't beleive this but it had been sittting in the Sarasota P.O.all this time.When I told her the owner had told me the Jacksonville P,O, she told me I must have misunderstood.She then told me that it had been corrected and that it had been sent out Registered mail as I had paid extra for Insurance, I demanded the tracking number again and she gave it to me and it was turned into the Sarasota P.O. I suspect they just took it there.. The owner told me if I did not receive it Wednesday that he would take another similar one off auction and stop it and send it to me via Fed EX.I can't prove the other although I know but I do have the promise it wold be shipped by Fed Ex that didn't happen

 

They were obviously all Blatant lies and I will address it accordingly when I receive the coin that is now in the mail.I really don't care what they say about me as I will not ever bid on any of their Coins.It is an NGC slabbed coin and I might look into saying something to NGC.I won a Coin 4 days after thsi one and I have not onlt received it but the guy without asking E-mailed me and told me that he was sending it Priority Mail and gave me the tracking number and told me if I did not like the coin that I could return it.

[CHABSENTIA]

One more thing. IF the guy had told me when I checked after 5 days that it had not been shipped then I would have asked him when and there would be no problem. The guy told me it had shipped the day before.

 

I paid $8.00 for shipping and $3.00 for the optional Insurance I sent 6 coins to NGC frequently and insure them and pay about $9.00 and they are also in Sarasota. I have them graded and returned in less time.

[Houston Investor]

Certainly a seller should ship as advertised. Many sellers only ship once a week or there may be a delay of a couple of days due to the seller being out of town or needing to get the item out of a bank box. In addition, due to the inflexible hours of USPS, many people have to take off work and then wait in a long line in order to ship their material. Consequently, one shipping day a week is all they may be able to manage.

 

Most people in the rare coin business have a full time job in addion into their numismatic venture. Unless one is retired or wealthy, there simply is not enough money in numismatics to make it worthwhile as a full time occupation. Shop owners may squeeze by, but this is more dependent on what is walking in the door enough below CDN Bid allowing them both to flip this at wholesale at a show (or ebay) and make a decent profit .

 

If I do not receive an item within two weeks of auction close, I will notify the seller to inquire if there is a problem. Otherwise, I will seek refund thru paypal.

 

If you really want your coins the instant you pay for them, then why not go to a coin show? At the show I was set up last weekend, attendance was very poor. There were many coins in my cases I would have sold way below what I want for them in my ebay store in order to move them since at a show I am not paying the high cost incurred from ebay and paypal fees (it costs me 15% of sales to operate on ebay).

 

 

[James_OldeTowne]

Parker, your post is outstanding, and I agree with everything you stated.

[John Martinez]

Parker:

 

I thank you for your post. First, I gave the seller a positive feedback, but on the options side, rated them low for shipping.

 

While I will always "want it now", I do not expect immediate shipment. That said, 7-8 days after payment for shipment is unacceptable to me as well. This is especially so if someone with a gigantic e-bay store with hundreds of items can't get to the USPS or will not wait for the USPS to show up and pick it up, then they need to be clear that they can only make it to the USPS once per week.

 

An individual I would be more apt to understand. A so called "power seller" I will not accept that lack of service.

 

My job has me on the road weekly, and on weekends I spend with my family, so for now, unless the coin show is in my back yard, it's not an option.

 

Again, I thank everyone for their feedback and I have at least tempered my expectations somewhat.